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Clark Hill hits fastest-growing, revenue milestones on national lists

Detroit's Clark Hill plc is both the fastest-growing law firm in the nation by number of attorneys and the newest member of the top 200 firms ranked by revenue, according to American Lawyer Media.

With the addition of 74 attorneys last year, Clark Hill grew 35.2 percent last year, tops among the 350 largest firms in the country earlier this month in a report by the ALM-owned National Law Journal. The firms collectively grew by 3.9 percent.

Sister publication American Lawyer also adds Clark Hill for the first time to its AmLaw 200 list of largest national firms by revenue, at No. 177 with $127.5 million for 2013. That puts it slightly ahead of Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC, which slid from No. 174 to No. 182 as revenue dropped from $129 million to $122 million. Miller Canfield was among the bottom 15 listed firms by growth rate, shrinking by 27 attorneys to 270.

Most of Clark Hill's growth came via merger in March 2013 with Pittsburgh-based Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP, which had about 80 attorneys. The merged firm reported 284 attorneys for 2013.

CEO John Hern said the firm also has made recent additions in its IP and litigation practices, and hired attorneys in Chicago and Southeast Michigan. More expansion is possible, he said.

"It's always a work in progress," he said. "The Thorp Reed merger allowed us to build up a level of expertise in banking and commercial finance practices that we couldn't offer before, and if we build again we want to do it by taking that same kind of approach.

"This (new national ranking) is a milestone for the firm, and the fact we've made it I think reflects that we're intent on having a deep bench of expertise that our clients want to see."

Miller Canfield became smaller in 2013 through a decision to pare lawyers at its Windsor office who had built practice specialties outside of its core businesses, said CEO Michael McGee.

Attorneys in Windsor had drifted into areas like residential property matters and condominium development, McGee said in an email to Crain's, before the firm decided to refocus its Canadian operations last year. The Windsor cuts account for about two-thirds of the 27 fewer attorneys, he said, with the rest coming through attrition and retirement.

"The revenue decline is almost wholly the Canadian change. In the case of this change, smaller is demonstrably better," McGee said.

Other local law firms from the AmLaw 200:

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP is the largest of Detroit's firms by revenue at an estimated $188 million in 2013, ranking No. 146 compared to No. 145 with an estimated $186 million in 2012. It reported 231 attorneys in 2013, up by four from the year before.

Dickinson Wright PLLC climbed from No. 175 last year to No. 164 as revenue grew from $127.5 million to $159.5 million in 2013. It also added 64 attorneys, primarily by adding the 60 attorneys of the former Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander PA in Phoenix in January 2013.

Dykema Gossett PLLC, the largest of the Detroit firms at 340 attorneys in 2013, slid six spots to No. 152, with revenue about flat at $180 million and three additional lawyers.